Ay Christian! You're finally gonna meet my family. I can't believe it..."
"Neither can I. I'm so juiced. That and I've never been to San Francisco."
"Well I'm gonna show you everything. By the time I'm done you're gonna know this place like you lived here."
"We're only here a week..."
"There's a lot you can do in a week. The first thing is we have to do visit my brother at his place. I told him and my homeboys I was coming, so we have to hit them up first. I'm hella happy my mom hella likes you."
"Yeah your mom's really coo."
"Yeah... Sorry I brought you to the 'ghetto'," I had to laugh, "This is my home though."
"You don't have to apologize. It made you who you are."
"You have no idea... If these walls could talk..."
"Ey Silly!! Homegirl! Que honda eh? Que pasa? What you been up to crazy girl? Act like you can't call nobody!?"
"AHHH Carlos! WSUP! Don' even play. You know que no vivo aca mas."
"Oh yeeeeah. You moved a Hawaii si? Pa? escuela?"
"Yeah. Donde 'sta mi hermano?"
"Inside con todos. Quien es?"
"Oh this is Christian. Christian this is Carlos."
"Mano!"
"Mana! Dios Mio I can't believe I actually missed you."
"Ah callate pendejo. Damn everybody's here. Well this is Christian. Christian this is my brother Alejandro. Jandro this is Christian. AHHH Trucho! Sal! Que honda!?" I introduced Christian to everybody at the get together my brother was having and later that night my brother pulled me off to the side.
"'Silly, where'd you find that foo??"
"Man Jandro leave him alone. He's hella coo."
"He's chinito Erika."
"Actually he's Mexican and Filipino."
"Fuck that he's still chino. And you brought a chino into my house, in my face, and you now how I feel about them."
"Jandro please. Get over that shit. You're 23 now."
"Hell naw. He doesn't even look Mexican. You got everyone in here wonderin what's wrong with you."
"I don' care. They can wonder all they want. It's not their business and if they wanna say something about it they know who to come to."
"It's not just that. I don't like his attitude."
"His attitude. What the fuck are you talkin about?"
"He thinks he's hella better que alguien mas. I mean he won't drink nuthin we offered and he won't even smoke with us."
"He doesn't drink or smoke. And anyways I thought you would be happy I finally picked somebody that has a life and who wouldn't do those things around me and disrespect me. but I guess I was wrong. Look I don't really care if you like him or not. I was just letting you know who he is. We'll leave in a few minutes."
"Naw you don' have to do that."
"Whatever."
"Christian we're gonna leave in a few minutes. Sorry I kept you here so long."
"It's ok."
"We'll leave as soon as I get back from the store. I gotta go with my cousin to make sure she doesn't tweak out behind the wheel you know?"

* * *

"Yeah Trina he's hella nice."
"He's pretty fine girl.... even if he is chino."
"He's half Mexican."
"That's even better."
"Can you get the door for me?"
"Sure..." I dropped everything in my hands. Oh my God what did they do to Christian?
"You shouldda been smarter then to leave that chino in my house." Dios Mio!
"Oh my God I'll get you outta here ok.... Jandro I fuckin hate you. How the fuck could you do this!..." I can't believe it, my brother beat Christian's ass as soon as I left the door. Oh my God. He got him kinda bad too. Actually, Christian got my brother too, "Somebody call the police o 911!! Hijole!!!"

What was that about? I hate havin dreams like that. They always seem hella real. That seems like that could happen. But who the hell is Christian and why was I trippin so hard? I wonder what Jandro did. It's just like him to beat my boyfriend's ass. I couldn't even imagine if he was chino. Oh my God that'd be crazy. Well let me start packing my stuff. I just got accepted to Hawaii State Manoa. I'm so juiced. I'm finally out of this place. Sometimes it's like I hate it, then it's like I love it. Too much of my blood is in these streets though. It's time to move on. I think the only way I'll be able to keep my ass out of trouble is to move were there are no Norteños or Sureños. I don't think Hawaii's like that. And even if it is I don' think they would give me too much trouble.

I'm gonna miss my best friend Trina. We always joke around about our "Psychic Bond". We know each other so well that we don' even have to say anything to have a conversation. We can strait read each others minds. And when something happens to one of us, it always happens to the other. Like if my boyfriend is confused, hers will be too, if I break up with him, she ends up breaking up with hers. If I am hella hungry so is she, If she needs to eat some Fritos, Snickers and a coke, and I eat it for her, she's satisfied. Don' ask. We're weird. It's coo though cuz she's going to the army. That was hella random. The day she leaves for boot camp is the day I move to Manoa. Well let me go I gotta get ready. I leave in four days.

* * *

Well here I am daydreaming in Chem 1A. It's pretty coo out here. It's so pretty. There's plants everywhere and the sidewalks are so clean that people can (and do) walk around with no shoes on, Berkeley style. It's so nice though, everybody is really friendly and I fit right in. I think it's gonna get kinda boring though, I don' know all the kick it spots yet. Actually I don't know any. This place is good for me though. I know it sounds crazy, but I feel hella clean. It's like none of the problems I had back home I have to deal with here. The things that I would see everyday back home, the streets of memories I'd walk past, man here none of that applies. I don' have to pretend to be mad all the time to keep people away. It's really happy. ...

* * *

In a way this is tight, but in another way it's hella weird. The DJ looks like he's hella loaded.
"Excuse me. What's your name?" Oh my goodness I know this girl isn't trying to holler at me.
"Erika."
"Hi Erika. I'm Rebekah. My friend wanted to holler but he's acting to shy right now..."

* * *

"Erika wake up! You started snoring girl!"
"Oh my goodness. Ey Veronica, did the teacher hear me?"
"No I don't think so." We both started laughing. "Ey are you going to EcxstaCity on Friday?"
"What's that?"
"It's this one rave. It's pretty big out here. Not like yours in SF. But it's big for Hawaii."
"I'm hella coo with going to a rave. Don' hella stuff be goin down at those?"
"It's coo if you go with hella people. I'm going with my boyfriend, his two brothers and my sister."
"I don' know. I mean I like house and trance and everything, but still."
"Didn't you used to DJ back in SF?"
"Yeah a little bit."
"What if I can get you a DJ spot there. Would that make you feel better? Nobody can mess with you while you're in the booth."
"I guess. Only if I can DJ though."
"Fine. I'll call you up if it's on."
"Alright."

* * *

Well this is coo I guess. It's about a thousand people here. Veronica got me a 2:15-3:00am spot. In case you don' know that's hella good. The DJ's who get the spots in the middle are usually the best ones. I didn't have any demos when I came out here, so when Vero asked me to give Dinah, the person who set up the rave, a demo I said I'd have to show what I can do cuz I didn't have any. Well I guess that worked out in my favor. I'm gettin a hundred fifty for it. Anyways oh my goodness there are some fine people here. Hmmm there's one. I would holler but, I don' know, he's not my usual type. He looks kinda chino. But he is pretty fine. He's dark, bald, medium build, brown eyes, he has some nice lips... Ok let me stop jockin. His girl is probably around here somewhere. And what would he want with me?

Well my set went hella well. I ended up spinning for an extra 30 minutes because the people didn't want me to stop. I had them movin. The DJ after me got kinda mad though. But that's too bad. I can't help if the people only want this Frisco style. Just playin. "Excuse me, what's your name?" I know this girl isn't tryina get at me. Whoa this is hella weird I'm having Deja vu.
"Erika."
"Sorry, I'm Rebekah. My friend is too shy to holler at you so he asked me to come over for him."
"Oh really." There's something different about Rebekah. Not bad, but different. Almost compelling. "Huh?"
"I said do you want to meet him?"
'Who is he?"
"Him right there." She pointed to that fine guy I saw earlier. Without trying to look too juiced I walked over there. There was an embarrassing silence and smile.
"So you wanna dance?" I asked. He was trying hard not to start cheezin.
"So what's your name?"
"Chris."
"Does Chris have a last name?"
"Oh sorry, Christopher Malanastas."
"Well I'm Erika Alverez... You're Filipino?"
"And Mexican, yeah."
"That's coo. I'm black and Mexican." He nodded.
"I love this song..." 9pm by atb was on.
"Me too. You'd think the DJ wouldn't have played it right after you did though."
"I know huh. Maybe I'll school this lil island about mixing."
"You should they need it... Ey I think we should kick it sometime."
"What happened to your shyness?"
"It left."
"Okaay. I think we could kick it sometime. You seem coo."
"Well lemmie get your number cuz me and my friend are gonna leave soon. I have to be at work at 4:30 anyways."
"That's doin too much."
"I know. But hey. Gotta work."

Well it turns out Chris was far from shy. Actually he's pretty damn cocky. But it's kinda cute. I really like his personality, he's not like the other guys I've talked to, where all they do is try to impress you at first. He is really not, he's like take me how I am or leave me cuz this is what you're gonna get. And I can live with that. He also in a way is a challenge, because he's not like the other ones who will bow down to what you say, you have to work to get what you want. But work lends to appreciation later.

Now Rebekah, on the other hand is hella coo. Ever since I hollered at Chris we've been friends. Now we kick it all the time and go everywhere together. I feel like I've known her forever. But then she said the same thing. In a lot of ways she reminds me of Trina. Sometimes when I'm kickin it with her I get homesick. But other than that, we're hella coo. What's weird though is we have the same birthmark under our pinky nail. Hella weird huh? It's hard to explain. It's shaped like a little cloud. We have so much in common you'd think we were separated at birth. That's what everybody tells us. Well I'm gettin sleepy. Let me go to sleep.

* * *

This little party is pretty weak. Lemmie find Rebekah and Bruce tell them I'm going home.
"Chris where's Rebekah? You wanna go home?"
"Yeah this is weak. I think she's in the other room. Want me to get the car?"
"Yeah, lemmie tell her we're leaving."
"Ey Rebekah..." ooh my bad. Maybe I should leave her alone.
"...I don't care Bruce! You cheated on me! And while I was here! I can't believe this!"
"Rebekaaaah... I was drunk. What do you expect?" Whaaaat! That's shady.
"You were drunk?! What did I expect?! Boy that's not an excuse! Get out of my face. I have to leave."
"You're not leaving."
"Watch me. Lemmie go find Erika and Chris to take me home."
"So you want Chris now?!"
"What?!"
"Don't act stupid!"
"Look Bruce you're drunk..." and he slapped her. Hell naw! I ran over there to go get her. Chris somehow came in and grabbed Bruce and pushed him off somewhere...

* * *

Whoa, ok. Crazy dreams. Gotta remember not to eat cold pizza before I go to bed.
Ring, ring
"Hello?"
"Hey Girl!"
"TRINAAAA!!! Wsup girl! How's boot camp?"
"It's alright. It gets easier as you go along. What's new with you?"
"Nothing much. Oh yeah I have a new boyfriend.?
"Really, Who's the victim now?"
"Anyways, his name is Chris. He's hella fine."
"Oh boy. How's school going?"
"It's coo. I'm just juiced cuz I'm getting an A in Calculus."
"You go girl. I couldn't even imagine that."
"Well I couldn't even imagine bein where you are so we're even." It's funny how me and my best friend are complete opposites.
"Well I gotta go. My drill sergeant is callin."
"Aight girl love ya."
"Love ya."

* * *

"Hey Rebekah. Hey Veronica."
"Wsup girl."
"Hey Erika."
"So where are we going to eat today?"
"Well I can't go. I have to study."
"Vero you have to, otherwise it won't be the same."
"I know but I can't."
"Okay. If you insist."

"Rebekah, how are you and Bruce doing? I mean I don't want to be all in your grill. But..."
"We're fine why?"
"Nuthin. I'm just trippin." Rebekah was giving me a weird look.
"What is it? Did he say something? Do you know something? You know you have to tell me."
"No, no it's nuthin like that. I just had some dream. Don't trip, I'm just tweakin." She was lookin at me hella crazy. Then she laughed a nervous laugh.
"Yeah you are. We're fine. Are you going to Eddies party tomorrow?"
"Yeah. Chris told me about it."
"Alright. Well it was nice breaking bread with you but I gotta go."
"Yeah me too. I'm supposed to kick it with Chris tonight."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Oh did I tell you I talked to Trina today?" I was getting that weird look again.
"No you didn't, how is she?"
"Fine."
"Well, lemmie go... oh yeah and Erika, don't take highway 580 when going home tonight ok?"
"Okaaay." Now I was giving her that weird look.

* * *

Ring ring...
"Hello?"
"Hi Erika."
"Hey Vero... What's wrong?"
"I gotta go back to LA tonight."
"Why? What happened? Are you Ok?"
"Yeah I'm fine, my grandmother passed this morning."
"Oh my God Vero, I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault. Look call Rebekah for me and tell her what happened please? I would call her, but I don't feel like talking about it any more."
"Of course. Yeah I'll tell her. Cuidate ok?"
"You too."
Click.

* * *

Man last night was coo. I'm glad Rebekah told me not to take 580. There was a big accident, and what was crazy was it was at the time I was going home. I wonder if she knew that the traffic was bad or something. I don't know. I wish Chris would hurry up so we can go to this party. He always wants to be so "fashionably late" to make his grand entrance. Speaking of him, man I'm trippin. I'm really starting to like him. I don't even know why. It's so crazy too because my ex boyfriend called me the other day, man I used to be in love with him, but when he called, I wasn't even trippin. It was just another call. But when Chris called me right after, I was so juiced that he wanted to kick it I didn't know what to do. I wish I could explain this. I reeeeeally don't want to fall for someone right now. I don't need it. But there's just something about him. And know he feels the same way. He does all these little things, to let me know he's thinking about me. And that's all I really want. To know someone's thinking of me. Like if he sees something he knows I would like, he'll get it for me. Like this Marvin Martian cup he got for me the other day. It's so cute. Or he'll get me flowers for no reason. And what I'm really diggin, is he doesn't drink or smoke, at least around me if he does it. I don't know, I'm wondering if my brother would like him though. Damn my brother hates chinos. But he might like Chris, I mean he's a good change for me. He's half Mexican too, so that might help. Speaking of my brother that's probably who gave my ex my number. Damn I'm gonna have to talk to him about that.

* * *

"You guys are always late!" Vero laughed.
"Well you know, anticipation makes the heart grow fonder."
"Anyways Chris... Hey Erika, your 'sister' and Bruce are in the pool house with hella other people. You might wanna check on them cuz they've already had a few too many. The foods in the back and the drinks are in the dining room, help yourself."
"Thanks Eddie."
"You want me to go check on her?"
"Would you Chris thanks. It'll give me a chance to look around." Supposedly Eddies house is the one they used for the real world that one year when they had that drunk girl who went to rehab and that coo ass black dude named Tek. So I wanted to look around and see wsup, the house looked hella coo on TV. But then everything does. Actually though this place is pretty clean, I swear he must have invited the whole island here. I mean the pool has about 30 people in or around it, the hot tub is to the brim, there's people all over the back deck and leaning over that ledge where the couple from the real world would always talk out their problems, I think their names were Collin and Amaya. The set up was nice though; it still had the pond with the volcano, a strait party house. I could live here.
"Hey Chris. How are they?"
"They're fine. Well actually I only saw Rebekah, I don't know where Bruce is."
"He's probably around somewhere. Lets go get something to drink and go sit down for a minute."
"Here I'll get it and you find a place."
"Ok." I picked over by Collin and Amaya's ledge.
Well me and Chris kicked it for a while, the party never picked up and I was ready to go home.
"Ey this is kinda weak."
"Yeah you wanna go home?"
"Yeah. Lemmie go tell Rebekah we're leaving, kay?"
"Yeah I'll go get the car." I wonder if she's still around in the pool house?
"Ey Rebekah..." just as I thought. Ooh my bad. Maybe I should leave her alone.
"...I don't care Bruce! You cheated on me! And while I was here! I can't believe this!"
"Rebekaaaah... I was drunk. What do you expect?" Whaaaat! That's shady. Oh my God I'm trippin...
"You were drunk?! What did I expect?! Boy that's not an excuse! Get out of my face. I have to leave."
"You're not leaving."
"Watch me. Lemmie go find Erika and Chris to take me home."
"So you wanna just leave me now?!"
"What?!"
"Don't act stupid!"
"Look Bruce you're drunk..." and he slapped her. Hell naw! I ran over there to go get her. Chris somehow came in and grabbed Bruce and pushed him off somewhere...
"Rebekah are you Ok?!"
"Oh my God I hate him!"
"You stupid b..."
"Ey calm down!" Chris yelled at him while he held him back. He gave a look that meant to take Rebekah to the car.
"Why didn't I see this coming?" she sobbed. "I mean everything was there, I couldn't find him at the party, and he had been complaining so much about me lately..."
"It's not your fault girl. It's not you. Look you can stay with me tonight so he doesn't bother you, kay?"
"Alright."
"Are you alright?" Chris asked when he reached the car.
"Yeah, maybe my pride's a little hurt but I'll be alright."
"You want me to take you home or what?"
"I'm going to Erika's house."
"Alright." Pretty much nobody is saying anything right now. And I can't help but think that I had that dream about this. It happened almost to the letter. Down to the fact that Rebekah was in the pool house and Chris held Bruce back. That's hella weird. I kinda want to tell Rebekah, but that would be shady because she'd be like if you knew why didn't you say anything. She's pretty superstitious when it comes to things like that. If you have a feeling about something, like she always does, then she thinks you should act on that.

Well I'm at home now, it's pretty quiet. Chris left about 30 minutes ago after making sure both of us would be ok. Man... I won't even get into how much I really like him again. Rebekah's still kinda trippin, I can tell. She hasn't said anything for a while.
"Hey Erika?"
"Yeah?"
"Remember when your best friend called the other day?"
"Yeah?" Why was she asking me about this?
"Did you tell her about Chris and she tell you about boot camp?"
"Yeeeah..." Is she going somewhere with this?
"Lemmie see your hand?" Ok I think maybe she's going a little loca now. She started staring at my pinky, and gave me a look. A look like she could see right through me. It kind of tripped me out, then it was comforting, almost understanding. Understanding of all the things I had ever seen, understanding of everything I had done in my past that I ran away from and tried to ignore.
"You knew this was gonna happen huh?"
"Why do you say that?"
"I can see it." I think she's still a little drunk, but how did she know?
"You have a dream about it? One that was almost exactly like what happened?" I couldn't say anything. How did she know this? I didn't tell anyone, I don't think... "That's why you asked me about me and Bruce yesterday huh?"
"Yeah." Is all I could manage.
"Bring me over to EcxtaCity, I wanna show you something."
"You wanna go right now?"
"Better now then never."
"Let's just stay here and get some rest." She just looked at me like she knew something I didn't. So we got in my car and drove down there. When we got there it was the weirdest thing. There were about 65 people in this one room that was in the upstairs part of the rave center. I saw Dinah was up there and a few other people I knew from school. As soon as I walked in the door I felt so comfortable. Like I belonged there all my life. The kind of comfortablility people search for their entire lives and never find, almost euphoria. I don't know how to explain it. Dinah walked over to me and Rebekah.
"Wsup miss top DJ in Hawaii. You really made a name for yourself around here. Did my club some good."
"Oh thanks, It's nuthin really. How've you been?"
"I'm Ok. You wanna spin?" For some reason it's the only thing I want to do right now. After about ten minutes of mixing and feeling hella good, I notice Rebekah and Dinah, and some guy I've never seen before are deep in conversation. I'm not really trippin though, for some reason I am hella feelin this music. I swear this has to be the best set I've ever done. Now Dinah and Rebekah are walking up to the booth, along with that guy.
"Erika, here let Dyloot take the tables for a minute I need to talk to you." Uh oh is she gonna make me a permanent DJ here? Man I can't afford the time right now, with school and everything. We walked over to a side of the room. "Rebekah tells me you have dreams."
"Ok. Doesn't everybody?" I asked. When she reached up to wipe her forehead I noticed she has a birthmark on her pinky too. At a glance I could have sworn it looked like mine.
"Yeah, but yours come true huh?" Even though I know I should be trippin, I'm not. This all feels natural. "Could you tell me about them? Anything?" I felt like I was talking to another shrink, but I felt like I could just tell her everything.
"The dreams I have do come true, later on. It's like I'll have one, and I feel like it's way too real and-"
"And it comes true later, just not exactly the same?"
"Yeah."
"Like a minor detail is different but it's the same basic idea?"
"Yeah."
"How long has this been going on?"
"I guess my whole life now that I think about it. It's just that I only noticed it now." Why am I telling her all this, I feel like I've been drugged.

"Let me see your hand..." She looked at it then dropped it. "You see everyone in here?" I nodded. "They all have this same mark on their pinky. You have a gift." What was she talking about. "Everyone in here has the same ability you have, only at different stages. Some are beginners, just like you. Who don't have their skills refined, and some are at their prime, where they can tell you a day and time when things will happen, like Rebekah. She knows when things are going to happen, she can tell you a time and place. I bet you're having dreams but some things aren't completely right when they come true, right? Like a name or time?" I nodded. "If you're willing, We can help you with those skills." Now this is hella weird, I wonder am I dreaming now. "Take your time and think about it. I know this is weird and a lot to swallow, but you know it's true. Just tell Rebekah when you're ready and she'll contact me. Don't be afraid of what you have. Just pay attention and may save someone one day." I think I need to go home and go to sleep. Sleep some of this alcohol off and wake up tomorrow and forget all this. Forget the fact that there's some big society of people out there who can tell the future with their subconscious that I may be a part of. Maybe I'll just retrace my steps, back to my house, and I'll realize none of this ever happened. Wake up from this dream.

* * *

It's been a couple days since I went to EcxtaCity with Rebekah. I can't stop thinking about how comfortable I was there in that room with those "dreamers" as Rebekah calls 'em. How as soon as I stepped outside the room I was hit with reality. Like a big gust of wind came in and told me that's where I was supposed to be. It's still hella weird to me, but I think I'm ok with it. I mean I guess I can't change it. It's weird cuz it's not like I have a problem with it, it's just like I just noticed something I knew all along. Rebekah told me the other day the reason she started talking about the phone call from Trina was because she had a dream about it the day before, that on the day I talked to my friend there would be an accident on 580. That's why she told me to watch out.

Ring, ring.
"Hello?"
"Hi Erika."
"Hey Vero... What's wrong?" Damn, I never told Vero what was gonna happen. But then again, how could I have?
"I gotta go back to LA tonight."
"Yeah, Are you Ok?"
"Yeah I'm fine, my grandmother passed this morning."
"I'm so sorry Vero."
"It's not your fault. Look call Rebekah for me and tell her what happened please? I would call her, but I don't feel like talking about it any more."
"Of course. Yeah I'll tell her. Cuidate ok?"
"You too."
Click.
I wish I had have told her earlier. Oh well. I still have to get used to this.

* * *

Well it's been a year and I'm still with Chris. Yeah, yeah I know. I didn't think we'd last this long either. I want to introduce him to my mom back home in San Francisco. I think she'd like him. I don't really care what my brother thinks. He's always tried to run my life. But it's coo, that's just the way he is. I don't think he'd have too much of a problem with Chris anyways. Man I miss my old friends back home. I haven't been over there since I left. My best friend is supposed to have leave from the Army in a month so maybe I'll go visit her out there. She's going home to see her family, I know I need to. In a big way I hella miss the Mission. I wonder does the Mission miss me though? I've changed so much since I got here. I mean deep down I'm still the same person, things were just added. The dreamer thing, well that's still going on. It's no big deal now. If I have a dream I just think about it and wait to see things come up so that I can avoid it or help someone else avoid it. It's kinda hard though cuz if we're helping someone else, we can't tell them about the dream unless they're a dreamer too. Oh well. Summer vacation starts in a month, maybe if I make my reservations early I can get a cheap flight. Right now though I'm supposed to meet Chris at this restaurant.
"Hey Chris."
"Hey Bonita."
"I have a question. Have you ever been to San Francisco?"
"No, why?"
"I was just wondering. I might be going in June. I hella miss my family and friends back home. I want to know if you wanna come with me?"
"Yeah sure. But where would we stay?"
"We can stay at my mom's house. I talked to her earlier and she really wants to meet you."
"What if when we get there she doesn't like me??"
"Don' worry, she already likes you. Besides I wanna show you just were I'm from. So you understand where I'm coming from sometimes."
"That's coo. You wanna go in June?"
"Yeah."
"That's coo. Am I gonna meet this famous brother of yours?"
"Yeah..."
"Why are you giving me that look?"
"I don't really know what my brother will think of you. I mean not that that matters, I just don' know what he'll do. He flashes sometimes."
"He's grown I'm sure he can handle himself."
"Yeah. I guess. I hella miss home. You have no idea. I can't wait to go back. You have no idea what I would do to hear someone talk in full Spanish right about now." He kinda smiled.
"Me too." He laughed. But I was serious. Man...

* * *

"Ey Silly, so we finally getta meet your new friend eh?"
"Ah Jandro, shut up. Don' mess with em, please?"
"Why, Is he a pendejo?"
"Why you gotta laugh? Naw, I'm just sayin don' show all your brotherly love at once, kay?"
"Coo, algo mas?"
"Naw it's coo. I gotta go anyways. Long distance."
"Aight, hasta luego."
"Hasta Luego."

* * *

"Hey Rebekah guess what?"
"Chris said he'd go with me home!"
"You are a little too excited." She smiled. "You sure you want your brother to meet Chris, You think he'll like him?"
"I don' know. We'll find out."
"When do you leave?"
"Two weeks."
"All I have to say is be careful."
"What do you mean?"
"Be careful now so there's no meaning later, kay?" I must have looked puzzled. "I think you know what I mean." I didn't.

* * *

Well dinner at my mom's house was perfect. She made my favorite chicken tamales she only makes on special occasions just for me. She told me "Es una ocasion especial! Mija came home de college!" She has been an angel since we got here, and she absolutely loves Chris. Even though he doesn't speak that much Spanish, and her not that much English, they love each other's company. I can tell already. She's been so embarrassing though, busting out pictures, so many from the time was a little dumb chola. Damn I was different then. I didn't realize how much I missed my mom. Coming home was such a good thing for me to do. I kinda wanna tell her about the dreamer thing. We're Catholic, so I know she'd believe me. She'd say it's a sign from God. I do believe that, even Dinah said the dreams came from a higher power, but I don't want to go through that with her right now. Maybe tomorrow, after I get Alejandro's impression of Chris. Lemmie go see if he's comfortable in his room. "Ay Chris you're finally meeting my family. I can't believe it..."
"Neither can I. I'm so juiced. That and I've never been to San Francisco."
"Well I'm gonna show you everything. By the time I'm done you're gonna know this place like you lived here."
"We're only here a week.."
"There's a lot you can do in a week. The first thing is we have to do visit my brother at his place. I told him and my homeboys I was coming, so we have to hit them up first. I'm hella happy my mom hella likes you."
"Yeah your mom's really coo."
"Yeah... Sorry I brought you to the 'ghetto'," I had to laugh, "This is my home though."
"You don't have to apologize. It made you who you are."
"You have no idea... If these walls could talk..."

* * *

"Ey Silly!! Homegirl! Que honda eh? Que pasa? What you been up to crazy girl? Act like you can't call nobody!?"
"AHHH Carlos! WSUP! Don' even play. You know que no vivo aca mas."
"Oh yeeeeah. You moved a Hawaii si? Pa? escuela?"
"Yeah. Donde 'sta mi hermano?"
"Inside con todos. Quien es?"
"Oh this is Chris. Chris this is Carlos."
"?Mano!"
"?Mana! Dios mio I can't believe I actually missed you."
"Ah callate pendejo. Damn everybody's here. Well this is Chris. Chris this is my brother Alejandro. Jandro this is Chris. AHHH Trucho! Sal! Que honda!?" I introduced Chris to everybody at the get together my brother was having and later that night my brother pulled me off to the side.
"Silly, where'd you find that foo??"
"Man Jandro leave him alone. He's hella coo."
"He's chinito Erika."
"Actually he's Mexican and Filipino."
"Fuck that he's still chino. And you brought a chino into my house, in my face, and you now how I feel about them."
"Jandro please. Get over that shit. You're 23 now."
"Hell naw. He doesn't even look Mexican. You got everyone in here wonderin what's wrong with you."
"I don' care. They can wonder all they want. It's not their business and if they wanna say something about it they know who to come to."
"It's not just that. I don't like his attitude."
"His attitude?! What the fuck are you talkin about?"
"He thinks he's hella better que alguien mas. I mean he won't drink nuthin we offered and he won't even smoke with us." Damn why does my brother trip off everybody I talk to? And why does he trip off stupid ass stuff, excuse my language.
"He doesn't drink or smoke. And anyways I thought you would be happy I finally picked somebody that has a life and who wouldn't do those things around me and disrespect me. but I guess I was wrong. Look I don't really care if you like him or not. I was just letting you know who he is. We'll leave in a few minutes."
"Naw you don' have to do that." He was lookin at me pretty dirty. He hella pisses me off with that. Always actin like he can do whatever he wants. I guess he'd be happier if I was with some lowlife cholo again. And that's what I told him.
"Whatever." He's hella mad now. But I don' care. He hella irritates me when it comes to this.
"Chris we're gonna leave in a few minutes. Sorry I kept you here so long."
"It's ok. Is everything ok?"
"We'll leave as soon as I get back from the store. I gotta go with my friend to make sure she doesn't tweak out behind the wheel you know?" Why does this seem hella familiar? I haven't had deja vu in a long time.

* * *

"Yeah Trina he's hella nice."
"He's pretty fine girl.... even if he is chino."
"He's half Mexican."
"That's even better."
"Ey Trina, can Chris come too? I just remembered something..."
"Yeah sure." I walked back up the stairs and it hit me. I remembered a dream I had about a year and a half ago, it tripped me out when I had it cuz I didn't know what was going on. I felt like I was in a daze, trying to figure out this dream. And it occurred to me that the guy, whose ass my brother kicked in the dream, was Chris, not some dude named Christian. And if I would have left with Trina, Jandro would have hurt him. I ran inside, knocking down a couple of my patnas. I saw my brother trying to start an argument with Chris. I remembered what he looked like afterward in my dream. And for some reason I just stood there. My brother turned around and turned a lighter shade of red.
"I thought you left."
"I forgot something. Chris come on we're going home."
"Naw he was just having fun." I could tell my brother was hella mad I came back inside. I'd have to talk to him about it another time though.
"Look we have somewhere to go tomorrow and Mom wanted me back by at least 1."
"Whatever." He started to mug Chris, who looked like he wanted to start talkin shit, and be hella cocky, but he knew he wasn't from around here and couldn't do anything.
"Trina, ey can you just drop us off at my mom's house?"
"Yeah. You ok girl, You feelin alright?"
"Yeah I'm coo. Hey stop by in the morning kay?"
"Sure. Nice meeting you Chris. Night."
"Night."

I don't really want to ignore Chris or anything, but I told him I wasn't feeling well and I should get some sleep. He looked like he wanted to ask me what was wrong but kept it to himself. My mom came in with some sopa and agua fresca. And she gave me look like if I wanted to talk, she was there. I really want to tell her right now. So I will...

And I did. I told her all about what had happened while I was in Hawaii and why Rebekah told me to be careful. All she said was, was I should be grateful and remember to pray. And as long as I did God would be there for me, and she would be too. After that I slept hard for a long time. The rest of the week was really fun kickin it with Chris. But now I'm back in Hawaii, working to make sure I can pay for school in the fall. I don't know. Maybe I'm trippin too hard. But doesn't it make you trip off the dreams you have?